566 
August 13 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
♦ Woman and \ 
| The Home, ! 
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 
FROM DAY TO DAY. 
Limes appear to be unusually plenti¬ 
ful this year. A great many people 
never use this fruit, but it is as service¬ 
able as a lemon, and gives a slight 
variation of flavor. The freshly-squeezed 
lime juice is vastly superior to the 
bottled juice sold by grocers. Limes 
form an agreeable acid with baked or 
boiled fish, and they are also used in a 
variety of Summer drinks, and in salad 
dressing. 
* 
There are innumerable ways in which 
one may use stale bread, and here is one 
which will include crumbs and scraps of 
cheese: Beat together two eggs, one 
pint of milk, and half a small teaspoon¬ 
ful of salt. Butter six thin slices of 
light stale bread, divide in halves, and 
soak for a minute or two in the batter. 
Arrange the bread in a pudding dish, 
and cover each slice thickly with grat d 
cheese. Bake in a quick oven for 15 
minutes, and serve at once. This is a 
very nourishing dish, and will be excel¬ 
lent as a substitute for meat. 
BACK FROM CUBA. 
The men shown in Fig. 263 are sick 
and wounded soldiers, brought to New 
York on the transport Olivette. Some 
of them are clothed in the check ging¬ 
ham pajamas, furnished by the Red Cross 
Society, and which have been made by 
Red Cross auxiliaries in many localities. 
It is said that, in spite of unfavorable 
surroundings, the percentage of recov¬ 
eries among the wounded is larger than 
in any other American war. This is 
partly because of improved antiseptic 
treatment, and partly because the Mauser 
bullet makes a small, clean hole, with¬ 
out mangling or shattering. But as we 
receive accounts of the lack of facilities 
for surgical care at the front, together 
with a similar lack of absolute necessi¬ 
ties upon the transports bringing 
wounded to this country, we feel that 
there is need for a most searching in¬ 
vestigation into the organization of the 
medical corps. 
In the Outlook for July 30, George 
Kennan, in his Story of the War, de¬ 
scribes the First Division Field Hospital 
after the battle of July 1. He tells of 
surgeons who stood at the operating 
tables for 21 consecutive hours, while 
the wounded men lay upon the ground 
for hours, without shelter from blazing 
sun, chilly dew or rain. No organized 
provision had been made to give them 
stretched, as linoleum always docs. 
When it had been down for two years, 
there were bulging places in it. We 
took it all up, turned the sides that had 
been next to the wall to the middle of 
the room, and after we had it well fitted 
again, we tacked it down. It has never 
needed taking up since.” 
“ It must be hard work to take it up,” 
said Mrs. Lewis. 
“ It is awkward to handle,” responded 
Mrs. Carey; “but I think that Mr. 
Carey and James did not work at it over 
an hour. Twice a year I rub it over 
with turpentine and linseed oil. The 
oil may be either raw or boiled ; just 
enough turpentine to make it spread 
easily. This takes but a few minutes, 
no longer than it does to wash it with 
water. I put it on after supper, and the 
floor is ready to use the next morning. 
It is the oil that has kept the figures 
from -wearing off. When I mop, I put a 
little kerosene oil in the water, and that 
leaves the surface of the linoleum bright. 
Of course, where linoleum has hard 
usage in the kitchen, it needs to be 
scrubbed with a brush occasionally, but 
since our children have grown too old to 
drop jelly, and spill bread and milk, I 
seldom find it necessary to scrub in the 
dining-room.” 
“ Your painted and oiled floors—how 
do you care for them ?” asked Mrs. Lewis. 
In an Indiana town, the electric rail¬ 
way company recently discharged the 
men employed as car conductors, and 
put young women in their places, these 
women receiving, it is said, a salary of 
$20 a month. The patrons of the road 
are disgusted with this change, and are 
showing their feeling by boycotting the 
road, and refusing to ride upon these 
cars. It is not that the women them¬ 
selves are objects of disfavor, but it is 
asserted that the women so employed are 
not obliged to do manual work for a liv¬ 
ing, and they have thrown men out of 
employment. It is likely that the mat¬ 
ter will be discussed with interest by 
various labor organizations. 
* 
People often-comment on the fact that 
many of our modern girls are taller than 
their mothers. It would appear as though 
this were another example of the uni¬ 
versal law of supply and demand, for in 
a great many business vocations, tall 
women are given the preference over 
short ones. In the cloak and suit de¬ 
partments of the largest stores, espec¬ 
ially, a short girl has little chance of 
employment. This is easily explained 
when we consider how well a gown or 
wrap is shown off by a tall wearer. An 
employer recently told us that he would 
employ a tall young woman by preferenoe 
even as clerk or stenographer, because 
she was more commanding in appear¬ 
ance, and made a more dignified im¬ 
pression in the office. According to this, 
we must grow a crop of tall girls to 
meet the demand. 
* 
The Philippine Islands are not, per¬ 
haps, very progressive in some respects, 
but the newest of new women may look 
with respect upon the privileges accorded 
the native Tagal women in Luzon. The 
laws regarding the property of married 
persons are entirely in favor of the wife. 
The property of a bride is never settled 
upon her husband. If a bankrupt has 
invested some of his wife’s money in his 
business, she is included among the 
creditors. A man has no claim on the 
estate of his dead wife, unless she has 
executed a deed in his favor. A married 
woman continues to use her maiden 
name, to which she adds that of her hus¬ 
band, with the prefix de ; this is dropped 
if she becomes a widow. Women are 
employed in many of the staple indus¬ 
tries, while the men attend to household 
duties. It is difficult to hix-e women as 
nurses and maids, so it is not uncommon 
for European families to hire boys for 
sxxch positions. 
food or drink, and many had been with¬ 
out nourishment or water for 12 to 24 
hours. After being operated upon, the 
men were laid on the water-soaked 
ground outside, half-naked, without 
blankets or bedding. It is difficult to 
imagine the scenes of horx-or Mr. Ken¬ 
nan describes ; horrors borne with silent 
heroism by the wounded men. 
When the Red Cross Society assumed 
charge, there was an immediate change 
in conditions. No one can say a word of 
anything but praise concerning the heroic 
field sui-geons, who toiled in the face of 
constant danger ; but there is something 
wrong, some lack of organization, when 
oixr wounded men must suffer unspeak¬ 
able tortures through the want of bare 
necessities. It gives the impression that 
the Red Cross Society is more efficient 
than the United States army medical de¬ 
partment. 
MRS. CAREY’S FLOORS. 
“ How is it that your linoleum and 
your painted floors always look so clean; 
do you scrub every day ?” asked Mrs. 
Lewis, glancing about her neighbor’s 
dining-room, where never a speck of 
dust seemed to find a lodging place. 
“This linoleum we put down in the 
dining-room ten years ago,” began Mrs. 
Carey. “ I don’t like carpet in a dining¬ 
room-where there are children. Linoleum 
is warmer and quieter than painted or 
oiled floors, and I took the lightest 
weight I could find ; of course, it was, 
also, the cheapest. I reasoned that it 
would be less likely to crack when it 
“ In about the same way as I do the 
linoleum. But now, Mrs. Lewis, I want 
to tell you that I really do less scrubbing 
and mopping than some of my neigh¬ 
bors, though I have not one room with 
the floor entirely covered with carpet. 
After a room is swept, I put my hand in¬ 
side a loose glove, or sometimes it is an 
old stocking, then with a soft rag that is 
dampened with kerosene oil, I wipe the 
bare floor about the edge of the room. 
The cloth gathers the dust very readily. 
Every week thei’e is an accumulation of 
these dirty kerosene cloths. After our 
weekly washing is done, before taking 
the boiler from the stove, we drop the 
cloths into it. Kerosene oil loosens dirt; 
so the cloths, without much effort on 
our part, are made to look semi-respect¬ 
able, and may be used again and again, 
until worn out.” 
“Now, Mrs. Carey, I am afraid you 
will think I am insatiable, but I do want 
you to tell me how to scrub a floor prop¬ 
erly. I have never been taught, and when 
my floors dry after a scrubbing, they 
never look clean like yours.” 
“ In the first place,” answered Mrs. 
Carey, “ I use plenty of warm water. 
When I scrub the kitchen, I change the 
water at least once. Then I use a hard 
scrubbing brush, a large soft cloth, 
usually an old knife undei’garment, and 
have at hand a bar of laundry soap ; I 
use the soap quite freely on the brush, 
but not at all on the floor cloth. I scrub 
about a yard squai'e at a time, just 
give it a good hard, quick scrubbing 
with the brush and plenty of soap and 
water ; then I wipe it with the cloth, dip 
the cloth up and down in the water, 
wring it out and wipe the place over 
again. I wipe it as nearly dry as possi¬ 
ble, then move on to the next place, and 
so on until I have finished. Probably 
your failure is in not using enough w r ater 
or in not wiping the floor as nearly dry 
as you could.” 
“ How do you make your zinc look so 
bright ? Mine looks streaked and ugly ; 
there are white spots on it.” 
“ Yes, I know, some of them are like 
that. Well, I’ll tell you ! When you've 
scrubbed it, rub it over with a cloth wet 
with kerosene, and ’twill come bright.” 
CARRIE B. SANBORN. 
HOT WEATHER FARE. 
Hearty appetites that ask no pamper¬ 
ing are usually what the farmer’s wife 
has to cater to, no matter how sultry 
the skies, though, I suppose, we all see 
days of flagging zest in August, when to 
eat seems a wearily useless custom. But 
people who are up to enjoy the dewy 
freshness of early morning are not 
usually of the class who can take only a 
cup of coffee and a roll, with mayhap, a 
spoonful of oatmeal smothered in cream 
and sugar, for breakfast. A hearty meal 
most of us must set forth, even for the 
first one of the day. While few men can 
be made content without some sort of 
meat at least twice a day, I think we all 
manage, with what cleverness we are 
mistress of, to lessen as we can the use 
of heavy meats, serving generous help¬ 
ings of any cereals and breakfast dishes 
that have proved acceptable. 
To the housekeeper of old-fashioned 
notions, who says that her people will 
not eat cereals, let me urge that, possi- 
bly, her manner in offering what she 
herself but half approves may have 
somewhat to do with the opinion in 
which it is held by the rest of the family 
If you wish your people to eat oatmeal, 
don’t offer it doubtingly with an I-don't- 
suppose-you-like-it manner, as if it were 
an unwelcome potion to be taken with 
what fortitude might be mustered to the 
ordeal. Treating an article of food with 
respect goes far towards causing others 
to respect it. Taking it for gi’anted that 
a child will like any sort of meat or 
vegetable is so much better than ques¬ 
tioning its likes and dislikes, the habit 
of enjoying every sort of wholesome 
food being, in later life, so great an ad¬ 
vantage, aside from its necessity if one 
would appear well-bred. 
Generous dishfuls of two or three sorts 
of vegetables with cold meat cut very 
thin and spi-ead tastefully on a large 
platter, will often satisfy the noonday 
appetite by their appeal to the eye, when 
less tact in serving would leave the im¬ 
pression that there had been “ nothing 
to eat.” If we ai-e to make the family 
content with less meat, the necessity of 
providing more of other eatables is 
foi’ced upon us, for habits and country 
air, with plenty of work, allow but a 
slight falling off in the bulk of the food 
taken, though doubtless, we do all eat 
more than we ought during hot weather. 
But they who lecture us upon overeating 
should remember that constant activity 
usually means prompt digestion, and 
that though they who sit much doubt¬ 
less do a large proportion of the world’s 
thinking, it needs to be kept in mind 
that what would be good advice for them 
may be wasted wisdom for people of 
other habits. 
The general purpose to use as light 
sorts of food during the heated tei-m as 
will content the family seems to me 
about all the farm housekeeper can do in 
deference to hot weather ; but the when 
and how of her labor lies more nearly in 
her own hands, and right here can her 
skill and ingenuity be exercised. Good 
planning goes far toward lightening 
labor. Getting the heaviest, most heat¬ 
ing tasks off in the cool of the day, cook¬ 
ing at one time as much food as can be 
safely carried forward, substituting 
fruits and cold desserts for hot puddings 
